[Comment] Safety of smoking cessation drugs for mentally ill patients

June 18, 2016

The Lancet 387, 10037 (2016)

Author: Laurie Zawertailo

In The Lancet, Robert Anthenelli and colleagues1 report the results of a large multi-site, double-blind, triple-dummy, randomised, placebo-controlled trial comparing the neuropsychiatric safety risk and efficacy of varenicline and bupropion with nicotine patch and placebo in two separate cohorts of smokers: one with current or past psychiatric disorders (n=4074) and one without (n=3984). The trial was requested by the US Food and Drug Administration (who also consulted on the study design) and was funded by the manufacturers of bupropion and varenicline.